The Officer and the Traveler by Rose Gordon

Colonel Lewis as his men preferred to call him. She’d never be able to call him that though, she’d forever remember him as one of the captains under her father’s command when she was but a young, carefree girl.
    Uncle George came in and took his seat, not making eye contact with anyone. Odd.
    A moment later, her father joined them.
    Trying not to look overeager and give herself away, she said, “Pa, we were up very early this morning, perhaps we could finish visiting tomorrow?”
    “ Are you saying you need some rest, Michaela?” Pa asked.  
    Michaela tucked a tendril of her dark hair behind her ear. “Well, I don’t mean to sound so rude, but I am quite tired and suspect I’ll need some rest for tomorrow.”
    “ I see,” Pa said slowly. “Tomorrow will be quite an important day, won’t it?”  
    She narrowed her eyes on him. He didn’t plan to renege on his agreement with her, did he?
    Silence fell over the room. She casually lifted her right index finger up to her lips and moved it across. To an onlooker, the gesture meant nothing. Between them, it meant everything. Most people might not care about Pa’s secret indiscretion, but she did and so would most everyone in this room who had been led to believe a lie. She’d promised him she’d never tell, and hadn’t ever breathed a word—not even to her sisters—but heaven help her, if her father reneged, she’d hold nothing back.
    He held her gaze, looking unaffected as the silence stretched in front of them, broken a moment later by a knock at the door.
    “ Who could be visiting now?” Aunt Lucille said, easing the tension in the room.  
    Father sat back in his chair and sighed and for her part, Michaela did the same.
    “ Mrs. Lewis,” a deep voice drawled from the door, sending chills up Michaela’s spine. What was Gray doing here? He walked inside, quiet and drawn up to every inch of his six-foot height.  
    She gave her head a simple shake, hoping he’d take that to mean that everything was fine just like she’d promised it would be.
    He seemed not to notice her as he walked inside. “Colonel Lewis, Jack, Ella,” he greeted, giving a nod toward each as he said their name. He turned his eyes toward her. “Might I talk to you outside for a moment, Michaela?”
    “ I—I don’t think so.” She cocked her head to the side and gave a pointed look at her father. What was wrong with Gray? Didn’t he know his presence might make her father do something rash?  
    “ Do you have something to say to Michaela, son?” Pa asked.  
    Had she not been staring at Gray she might have missed the way he flinched at the way Pa had addressed him. Pa had often called the young men about the fort ‘son’ or ‘boy’, but none had ever seemed as rattled by it as Gray appeared. Or perhaps he was more worried that Pa’s word choice was intentional, to remind Gray that he’d been forced to ask Pa for Michaela’s hand and had been granted permission.
    “ I do have something to say,” Gray said, his voice not giving anything away. “Privately.”  
    “ I don’t think you’re going to get your chance,” Pa said with a slight chuckle. “She just said she wouldn’t go outside with you.”  
    “ Yes, I heard her,” Gray said tonelessly, his gaze fixed on Michaela. “It’s important.”  
    She bit her lip. If she left with him, her father could call foul on her being alone with a man after sunset at the fort. Even if it was just to the porch. “Can’t it wait?”
    “ No.”  
    “ Then say it here,” her father encouraged, punctuating his words by slapping his open palm on the armrest of his chair.  
    “ All right.” Gray swallowed visibly, his nostrils flared and his hands balled into fists at his sides. “Michaela, will you marry me?”  
    The blood rushed to Michaela’s toes and she had the strangest sensation that the floor had just fallen out beneath her and she was falling into an abyss. “Wh-what did you say?” Surely she